Radio host to speak at women’s meeting

Published: Friday, April 19, 2013 11:12 a.m. CST

Pam Peoples, co-host of WBGL’s morning show for the past seven years, will be speaking on Saturday, May 4, in Oglesby during a free event for women.

Women at our BEST, which stands for building, encouraging, strengthening, and teaching, will host “Sowing Seeds of Encouragement,” a program for local women designed to be a morning of Christian encouragement.

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments and a nursery will be provided. Georgia Pryde Radtke, music teacher from Peru, will lead a time of worship. The gathering will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Oglesby Union Church, 100 E. Walnut St., Oglesby.

Guest speaker Pam Peoples is the daughter of a former Air Force mechanic, the wife of a retired Army officer, and the mom of a Marine air-traffic controller. She and her husband, Owen, have been married for 26 years, and their five boys range in age from 15 to 24.

Pam’s free time is spent doing volunteer work, public speaking, and outdoor adventure sports. She is an avid hiker and biker and has completed two half-marathons.

Seven years ago Pam accepted a job offer from WBGL radio to become a co-host on the station’s morning show. Though she started in unfamiliar territory, Pam has since helped turn the WBGL morning show into one of the most-listened to Christian morning shows in America – averaging nearly 250,000 unique listeners each week.

In 2010, the radio station sent Pam on a trip to Port-au-Prince, Haiti on one of the first commercial flights into the country after their devastating Jan. 12 earthquake. She spent a week surveying the damage, serving at an orphanage, and grieving over the desperate situation.

Once home, Pam found herself repeating the phrase, “I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I know I’m going to do something.”

Later that year, Pam did “something” – founding XXI Stones, a non-profit organization which provides clean water and shelter to the poverty stricken and broken.

Over the last two years, Pam and the XXI Stones team have worked on international projects in Haiti and Nicaragua, domestic relief in Joplin and New Orleans, and local outreach in Champaign-Urbana.

In addition to Pam’s presentation, the morning of encouragement will include special musical selections by Georgia Pryde Radtke of LaSalle. Georgia is a teacher of voice and piano and currently teaches music at Dalzell. She has taught music part time in Deer Park, Waltham, and Tonica Schools as well as full time in Peru Washington Junior High School. While at Peru she directed many musicals such as “Annie,” “The King and I,” “Music Man,” and “High School Musical.”

A talented vocalist herself, Georgia has played roles including Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady” and Mother Superior in Stage 212’s “Sound of Music.” Georgia is the mom of Rachel and Ryan, mother-in-law to Alec and Liz, and grandma to Callan, Ellie, Halden, Rock, and Blake. She has been a member and director of the Oglesby Union Church choir for several years and directed the OUC Children’s Music Camp for 10 years.

Following the program there will be refreshments and the opportunity to meet Pam and fellowship with other women. A free nursery is available for children through second grade. To RSVP for this event women may call or text Mary Black at (815)326-9727, reply via email at women.at.our.best@gmail.com, or send a message through Facebook at Women at our Best. If needing the nursery, please include information about the ages of your children when you RSVP.